Summer 2023 Brochure

SUMMER IS HERE!

We are writing this note halfway through a successful Brits Off Broadway series that has thus far earned two New York Times Critics’ Picks, for Breathless and The Habit of Art. We’re thrilled to bring you a summer season bursting with energy and innovation, beginning with East to Edinburgh’s 13 shows that are prepping to travel to the UK this August for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Two esteemed 59E59 Resident Companies return with effervescent new work. Primary Stages is back with Dig, a painfully funny new play by Pulitzer Prize finalist Theresa Rebeck. New Light Theater Project returns with Friends With Amenities, which will mark their fourth show here since becoming a Co-Op Resident Company.

We are pleased to welcome the Negro Ensemble Company with Charles White’s world premiere Unentitled. Since the 1960s the NEC has played a leading role in championing the work of Black theater artists in New York and we are honored to support their staging of this compelling family drama.

After wowing critics and audiences alike at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, A Eulogy for Roman makes its triumphant return to New York. If you missed this staff favorite during its sold-out preview run during East to Edinburgh last summer, this is your chance to catch a charming and heartwarming show!

In the true spirit of Off Broadway daring, The Pool Plays will stage a trio of thematically-linked works by 3 different playwrights in repertory. As a Makers Program participant, this company receives our strongest backing to bring voices you might not otherwise hear to the NYC stage.

We are overjoyed to support these groundbreaking theater companies in bringing their work to the stage and to you, our patrons. We couldn’t do it without you and we wouldn’t want to!

See you at the theater!

VAL DAY Artistic Director

Managing Director

PREJUDICE & PRIDE

BOOK BY SAM WRIGHT AND NICHOLAS COLLETT MUSIC AND LYRICS BY SAM WRIGHT DIRECTED BY NICHOLAS COLLETT

The hapless Longborn boys have exhausted all the employment options of East Tennessee and must now marry rich before they lose the family farm. Luckily “a young single woman in possession of a good fortune” has just moved into the ranch next door and brought along ridiculously wealthy songstress Darcy Fitzwilliams, not that banjopicking Bennett Longborn would stoop to woo her for any amount of money.

Thus begins this knee-slapping, foot-stomping, heart-tugging new folk musical by Sam Wright and Nicholas Collett, updating Jane Austen’s classic novel with an American musical twist. This show features a score of 15 original songs composed on banjo and developed with the KC-based folk band Gullywasher.

FIRST LOOK: $25†

THU, JUL 13 AT 7:00

FRI, JUL 14 AT 7:00

PREVIEWS: $35†

SAT, JUL 15 —

SUN, JUL 16

REGULAR: $60-$80‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $50

“Inventive adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel supported by a wonderful original country and western score”

- The Stage

EAST TO EDINBURGH

A unique showcase of 13 New York shows headed to the world’s largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in Scotland this summer.

JULY 11, 13, 18, 20

Solo Heroes & JJ Pyle present HOW TO FIND A HUSBAND IN 37 YEARS OR LONGER

Written and performed by JJ Pyle

Directed by Mark Cirnigliaro

... it’s about my failed relationships and my father...and my father’s failed relationships... so, it’s about Love. Umm... is it about Love?... ok, then Hope!...a coming of (middle) age story

JULY 11, 19

Christian Hege Inc., presents ALEXANDER KLAUS, THE ONE-LEGGED SHOEMAKER MAN

Written and performed by Christian Hege

Directed by Jenny Mercein

A 16-year-old American Civil War veteran struggles to live a normal life, on New York City’s Lower East Side. But when his flashbacks happen, there are toys. Everywhere. An achingly beautiful fairy tale for grownups.

JULY 12, 13, 15

Ricky Sim Comedy presents COMING OUT TO DEAD PEOPLE

With Ricky Sim

Coming Out to Dead People is a coming-of-age story that follows 19-year-old Ricky who had to decide whether to come out to his conservative Chinese-Malaysian immigrant mother after she’s diagnosed with terminal cancer. Combining stand-up and storytelling, the show explores the meaning of acceptance, grief, and why you should not think about your ancestors when having gay sex.

JULY 12, 14, 15, 16

Flying Bridge Theatre Company & Twilight Theatre Company present SHORTLIST

By Brian Parks

Directed by Margarett Perry

With Matthew Boston and Daniel Llewelyn-Williams

Enemy novelists duel for the ultimate prize in a war-of-the-words comedy by Fringe First award-winning playwright Brian Parks. Year after year, rivals Higgins and Houghton are on the shortlist for literature’s biggest award, never winning. But this year is different, each primed to strike and finally grab it.

JULY 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23

Seoulful Productions presents

DID YOU EAT? (밥 먹었니?)

Written and performed by Zoë Kim

Directed by Chris Yejin

Did You Eat? (밥 먹었니?) is an original solo show. While this is primarily a story about generational trauma and how it affects our love language between lovers, friends, and family — it’s also a story about food, identity, parent-child relationships, and the KoreanAmerican experience.

JULY 15, 16, 18

KB Productions presents

CALL ME ELIZABETH

Written and performed by

Kayla Boye

Directed by Michael Weber

Fresh off her 1961 Academy Awards triumph and a recent brush with death, Elizabeth Taylor is struggling with her hardest role yet: herself. An intimate look at the movie star’s early life, career, and loves as she grapples with the culture of celebrity and her place as Hollywood’s brightest star.

JULY 19, 20, 22

New Genesis Productions presents

THE MRS. DeWINTERS

Written and performed by

Liz Boiko Burdick and Lesley Sawhill

On the eve of the funeral of her last remaining friend, 95-year-old Helen enters the mid-century world of Daphne DuMarier’s “Rebecca.” Aided and abetted by her daughterin-law, they take a jaunty romp through twisty time. A play about the triumph of imagination over dementia, anxiety, and mortality. Based on an actual recorded conversation.

TICKETS: $15‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $12

See the calendar on page 22 for the full schedule.

JULY 21, 22, 23, 25

Twilight Theatre Company in association with New Jersey Repertory Company presents

THE ROSENBERG/ STRANGE FRUIT PROJECT

By John Jiler

Directed by Margarett Perry

With John Jiler and Lee Odom

Award-winning actor/playwright

John Jiler and clarinetist Sweet Lee Odom tell the remarkable story of the youngest child of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Orphaned at six, he was adopted by the man who wrote the song “Strange Fruit,” seared into our consciousness by Billie Holiday. Jiler and Odom take us on a journey of American politics from then until now.

JULY 22, 23, 25, 26

Yonder Window presents

VIOLET AND ME

Written and performed by Dorothy

Lyman

Directed by Katie McHugh

A meditation on motherhood, feminism and fame, two-time Emmy® Award winner Dorothy Lyman premieres her story at 59E59 Theaters. Discover her journey as she tells it from her Midwestern childhood, through motherhood, her marriages, and her successful Hollywood career.

Violet and Me places a microscope on the progression of gender equality since the ‘50s, questioning how far we’ve come.

JULY 26

Forgotten Ones presents THE TEMP

Written and performed by Kristina

DeGiovanni

Directed by Alexandra Scordato

Are we all faking it at our jobs? Or is that just the temp – a pretentious ingenue spilling the truth on her undercover acting role at a dysfunctional media company. Office Space meets Fleabag for the postGreat Resignation era, The Temp is a satirical, genre-bending soloplay lampooning white-collar work culture through a tale of lies, desperation, and egregious misconduct.

JULY 27, 29, 30

Leading Lady Creative and Guptanya Studios present THE LEADING LADY CLUB

Written by Sarah Hogewood

You’re invited to a private meeting of the Leading Lady Club! At this meeting, members discuss dating apps, self defense, workplace interactions, women’s health, assault, plus varying degrees of manspreading, mansplaining, and manipulation with humor and grace. Well...they’ll do their best. Imagine SNL-meets-the gynecologist waiting room in this hilariously dark commentary on womanhood in 2023.

JULY 27, 28, 29, 30

Basement Light Productions presents IVORIES

Written and directed by Riley

Elton McCarthy

With Riley Elton McCarthy, Hans Mueh, Chloe Kramer, Ryan Pangracs, Greg Pernicone, and Jesse Hartley

What do you get when A24’s horror is captured through tragicomedy? This haunted evening follows nonbinary playwright Sloane and their botanist husband Gwyn settling the estate of Sloane’s ailing grandmother. When Gwyn’s childhood friend Beckham arrives to help the couple bury the hatchet, they soon discover there may be more to the house, and to Sloane, hidden beneath the foundation.

JULY 28, 29, 30

Flying Solo! presents BLOOD(LINE)

By Dennis Elkins

Directed by Karla Knudsen

Composed by Brandon Scott Grayson With Dennis Elkins and Brandon Scott Grayson

I’m Normal! I gotta be normal! mr. dennis is convinced hard work and god-fearing obedience is rewarded with a happy home, good job, and white picket fence. How’s that working for ya’, mr. dennis?! Join master storyteller, Dennis Elkins, in a riotous solo musical as he tracks down the culprits responsible for rocking his dreamboat. Celebrate casting free from “normal.”

THE NEGRO ENSEMBLE CO., INC PRESENTS

UNENTITLED

BY CHARLES WHITE DIRECTED BY FLORANTE GALVEZ

Set in the heady days of late 2008, with the Obama campaign as a backdrop, an uppermiddle class African American family wrestles internalized racism, class anxiety, and each other when a sudden job loss and a revelation about their shared past threaten to upend their comfortable lives. Tempers and tensions boil over at a cherished Long Island vacation home that becomes the focal point of an intense family drama.

Unentitled explores the nature of risk – how much someone would risk to get what they want, and how hard it is to make that choice when history, tradition, and family all hang in the balance.

REGULAR: $30‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $25

THROUGH THE TOLLBOOTH CO. PRESENTS

A EULOGY FOR ROMAN

WRITTEN

AND PERFORMED

BY BRENDAN GEORGE CONCEIVED

AND

DIRECTED BY PETER CHARNEY

Meet Milo, a nervous young man who shares the stage with an urn. But things aren’t as dark as they seem.

Milo is trying to give a eulogy for his friend Roman, but the ceremony proves unexpectedly difficult, and attendees are voluntarily enlisted to help him complete the memorial. Together, they celebrate life, confront death, and make a promise of their own.

REGULAR: $30‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $25

“IT’S A LOVELY WARM HUG OF A SHOW THAT WILL LEAVE YOU WITH A BIG SLOPPY SMILE ON YOUR FACE AND A TEAR IN YOUR EYE.”

- The Scotsman

THEATER B AUGUST 12 — SEPTEMBER 2

SMALL

WRITTEN

AND PERFORMED

DIRECTED BY JESSI D. HILL

BY ROBERT MONTANO

Bobby is a small Puerto Rican/Italian kid from Long Island with a big dream. Soon he’s galloping headlong into the strange, obsessive world of professional horse racing. But the track is as dangerous as it is exciting, full of colorful characters and powerful beasts. The jockeys and their associates form a makeshift brotherhood even as they wrestle with the extremes of their sport. But will Bobby outgrow his dream or be consumed by it?

Small is a tour-de-force about finding and losing yourself in the messy process of growing up as one young man’s dreams unexpectedly lead him from the Belmont racetrack to the Broadway stage.

FIRST LOOK: $25†

SAT, AUG 12 AT 7:15

SUN, AUG 13 AT 2:15

REGULAR: $40‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $30

PENGUIN REP THEATRE AND CHITA RIVERA, IN ASSOCIATION WITH TED SNOWDON, ANTHONY MELFI & THE FLYING CARPET THEATRE COMPANY, PRESENT

THEATER A SEPTEMBER 2 — OCTOBER 22

PRIMARY STAGES PRESENTS

DIG

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY THERESA REBECK

From the author of Downstairs and Bernhardt/ Hamlet, Pulitzer Prize finalist Theresa Rebeck returns with Dig, a new play about courage, redemption, and photosynthesis.

In a dying plant shop in a dying neighborhood, Roger receives a visitor from the past: Megan, the neighborhood screw-up, just out of rehab. He wants nothing to do with this disaster. Rebeck’s signature wit, intelligence, and depth brings us a riveting play that asks - can a soul beyond saving be saved?

FIRST LOOK: $25†

SAT, SEP 2 AT 7:00

SUN, SEP 3 AT 2:00

PREVIEWS: $35†

TUE, SEP 5 —

SUN, SEP 10

REGULAR: $60-$125‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $50

THEATER B

SEPTEMBER 13 — OCTOBER 8

LOVE PRODUCTIONS RECORDS PRESENTS

CROSS THAT RIVER

COMPOSED BY ALLAN HARRIS

BOOK BY ALLAN & PAT HARRIS

DIRECTED BY REGGE LIFE

The unsettled West of the 1860s provides a new life and new dreams for Blue, a run-away slave, who escapes to Texas to become one of America’s first Black Cowboys. This compelling tale of freedom integrates fiction with historical fact, and each song presents a different page in this complicated chapter of American History.

The “smooth-voiced and charismatic” (The New York Times) renowned jazz composer, musician, and singer Allan Harris returns to 59E59 to star as Blue.

FIRST LOOK: $25†

WED, SEP 13 AT 7:15

THU, SEP 14 AT 7:15

REGULAR: $40-$60‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $30

“DEEPLY INTELLECTUAL ORIGINAL MUSIC... [HARRIS] IS ONE OF TODAY’S MOST TALENTED JAZZ PERFORMERS”

- The Atlantic

FRIENDS WITH AMENITIES

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY AHSAN ALI AND LISA JILL ANDERSON

DIRECTED BY SARAH NORRIS

Ali has problems. So does Natalie. Ali speaks Urdu. Natalie speaks Kardashian.

Surviving in New York City is never simple. These two NYC transplants dissect the relative chaos of their lives on a single night in an empty Brooklyn apartment. Misunderstandings of language, culture, and life experience threaten to spill over as Ali and Natalie interrogate and challenge each other’s assumptions about their lives and try to stumble drunkenly towards common ground.

REGULAR: $30‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $25

PENDRAGON THEATRE AND NEW LIGHT THEATER PROJECT PRESENT

MAKERS PROGRAM

Each year, 59E59 Theaters uplifts BIPOC voices by granting space to theater companies to rehearse and stage new work. For more information, visit bit.ly/Makers59

MAKERS PROGRAM

THE POOL PLAYS 3.0

The Pool Plays are presented in association with The New Group. Three playwrights. Three plays. One remarkable experience.

The Pool Plays span space and time, taking audiences from Brooklyn, to Delhi, to Berlin; from 1850, to the 1940s, to 2023 as three diverse playwrights bring their vastly different perspectives into one collective dramatic space.

Running throughout the plays are bright, common threads about the shifting nature of identity and about how the past echoes through the present and the future, demanding to be heard.

REGULAR: $25‡

59E59 MEMBERS: $20

ANTIQUATED F*CKERY

BY JESSICA CHARLES

Two Black, queer artists try to make it in an industry that considers them at once too Black and not Black enough.

THE BERLIN DIARIES

BY ANDREA STOLOWITZ

DIRECTED BY

WILL STEINBERGER

A complex drama about the search for home, fragmented heritage, and Jewish diaspora.

TWO BROWN PORTERS

JOIN US FOR THE POOL PARTY GET A TICKET TO ALL 3 PLAYS FOR $50!

BY NAREN WEISS

DIRECTED BY RAJESH BOSE

In this dark comedy, one choice sets momentous events into motion and two humble porters hold the key.

CHOOSE THE BEST MEMBERSHIP OPTION FOR YOU!

JOIN TODAY, CALL 646-892-7999

OR VISIT 59E59.ORG/MEMBERSHIP

2 discounted tickets for every show

2 complimentary tickets to the next Primary Stages show

59E59 Theaters Member events

59E59 Theaters Member gifts

Exclusive member-only presales and booking

2 complimentary drinks at our E:Bar

Discounted tickets to every Primary Stages production

Priority access to Primary Stages Developmental Programming

Discount to Primary Stages ESPA classes

Primary Stages Member gifts

PLUS, ALL MEMBERS RECEIVE THESE GREAT BENEFITS:

• SAVE on single tickets

• ACCESS THE BEST SEATS with exclusive member-only ticket presales

• Enjoy FLEXIBLE & FREE TICKET EXCHANGES when plans change last minute

• Take advantage of NO BOOKING FEES

• Make a night of it with DISCOUNTS & DEALS on parking, local restaurants, and more!

ABOUT 59E59 THEATERS

59E59 Theaters was established by the Elysabeth Kleinhans Theatrical Foundation in 2004 to grant professional space and expertise to non-profit theater companies premiering their work in New York City.

Under the leadership of Val Day, Artistic Director, and Brian Beirne, Managing Director, 59E59 Theaters presents a year-round curated program of Off Broadway plays and musicals that are nurtured and supported through highly-subsidized rental rates, as well as production, ticketing, Front of House, marketing, and press support.

59E59 Theaters has been growing a global audience of fans who celebrate excellent, groundbreaking theater (BroadwayWorld).

59E59 Theaters has served as a home for playwrights, artists, and a space for all. We have given more than 300 non-profit theater companies an artistic home through our unique curatorial model so that their work can be broadly accessible to as many New Yorkers as possible. With over 500 productions in our history and many more to come, we always have something new you can drop in on.

We can’t wait to see you at our newly renovated E:Bar to share a toast!

“THE END OF THE PLAY IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE EVENING”

– The New York Times

CALENDAR

JULY

TUESDAY, JULY 11

6:30 Alexander Klaus...

8:30 How to Find a Husband...

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12

6:30 Coming Out to Dead People

8:30 Shortlist

THURSDAY, JULY 13

6:30 Coming Out to Dead People

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

8:30 How to Find a Husband...

FRIDAY, JULY 14

6:30 Shortlist

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

8:30 Did You Eat?

SATURDAY, JULY 15

2:00 Prejudice & Pride

2:30 Call Me Elizabeth

4:30 Coming Out to Dead People

6:30 Shortlist

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

8:30 Did You Eat?

SUNDAY, JULY 16

2:00 Prejudice & Pride

2:30 Did You Eat?

4:30 Shortlist

7:30 Call Me Elizabeth

TUESDAY, JULY 18

6:30 Call Me Elizabeth

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

8:30 How to Find a Husband...

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19

6:30 The Mrs. DeWinters

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

8:30 Alexander Klaus...

THURSDAY, JULY 20

6:30 The Mrs. DeWinters

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

8:30 How to Find a Husband...

FRIDAY, JULY 21

6:30 Rosenberg/Strange Fruit

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

7:15 Unentitled

8:30 Did You Eat?

SATURDAY, JULY 22

2:00 Prejudice & Pride

2:15 Unentitled 2:30 The Mrs. DeWinters 4:30 Rosenberg/Strange Fruit

AUGUST

2:00

2:30

7:15

7:30

2:00 Prejudice & Pride

2:15 SMALL

2:30 A Eulogy for Roman

MONDAY, AUGUST 14

7:15 SMALL

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

THURSDAY, AUGUST 17

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

SATURDAY, AUGUST 19

2:00 Prejudice & Pride

2:15 SMALL

2:30 A Eulogy for Roman

7:00 Prejudice & Pride

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

SUNDAY, AUGUST 20

2:00 Prejudice & Pride

2:15 SMALL

2:30 A Eulogy for Roman

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

FRIDAY, AUGUST 25

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

SATURDAY, AUGUST 26

2:15 SMALL

2:30 A Eulogy for Roman

7:15 SMALL

7:30 A Eulogy for Roman

SUNDAY, AUGUST 27

2:15 SMALL

2:30 A Eulogy for Roman

TUESDAY, AUGUST 29

7:15 SMALL

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30

7:15 SMALL

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31

7:15 SMALL

SEPTEMBER

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

7:15 SMALL

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

2:15 SMALL

7:00 Dig

7:15 SMALL

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

2:00 Dig

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5

7:00 Dig

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 7:00 Dig

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 7:00 Dig

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 7:00 Dig

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

2:00 Dig 7:00 Dig

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10

2:00 Dig

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 7:00 Dig

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

7:00 Dig

7:15 Cross That River

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 7:00 Dig

7:15 Cross That River

7:30 Friends with Amenities

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 7:00 Dig 7:15 Cross That River 7:30 Friends with Amenities

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 2:00 Dig

Cross That River

Friends with Amenities

Dig

Cross That River

Friends with Amenities

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

Dig

Cross That River

Friends with Amenities 7:30 Friends with Amenities

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19

Cross That River

Friends with Amenities

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20

OCTOBER

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8

2:00 Dig

2:15 Cross That River

2:30 Two Brown Porters

4:30 The Berlin Diaries

7:30 Antiquated F*ckery

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10

7:00 Dig

7:30 The Berlin Diaries

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11

2:00 Two Brown Porters

7:00 Dig

7:30 Antiquated F*ckery

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12

7:00 Dig

7:30 The Berlin Diaries

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13

7:00 Dig

7:30 Antiquated F*ckery

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14

2:00 Dig

2:30 Two Brown Porters

4:30 The Berlin Diaries

7:00 Dig

7:30 Antiquated F*ckery

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15

2:00 Dig

2:30 The Berlin Diaries

4:30 Antiquated F*ckery

7:30 Two Brown Porters

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17

7:30 Antiquated F*ckery

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18

2:00 The Berlin Diaries

7:00 Dig

7:30 Two Brown Porters

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19

7:00 Dig

7:30 Antiquated F*ckery

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20

7:30 Two Brown Porters

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21

2:00 Dig

2:30 The Berlin Diaries

4:30 Antiquted F*ckery

7:00 Dig

7:30 Two Brown Porters

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22

2:00 Dig

2:30 Antiquated F*ckery

4:30 Two Brown Porters

7:30 The Berlin Diaries

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24

7:30 Two Brown Porters

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25

2:00 Antiquted F*ckery

7:30 The Berlin Diaries

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26

7:30 Two Brown Porters

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27

7:30 The Berlin Diaries

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28

2:30 Antiquated F*ckery

4:30 Two Brown Porters

7:30 The Berlin Diaries